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Some personal reflections following the Manchester Symposium of 17 June 1978
:EDITORIAL
227
whole-making activity, is akin to the nature processes. H a h n e m a n n found a w a y to identify the disease process, as expressed in the symptoms, with a healing remedy from the kingdoms of nature. With the remedy he sought to awaken the sensory function of the organism to t h a t which was escaping as disease. Here one can begin to see how a step has been taken towards redemption of the healing methods which in the course of history became left behind. One can perhaps also see how the way is pointed to the use of psychotherapy and high potencies in m a n y organic diseases, and of physical treatments and material doses in m a n y mental diseases. Whilst avoiding any schematic buttoning-up of the problem, we can recall Shakespeare's "And when the mind is quickened out of doubt The organs, though defunct and dead before, Break up their drowsy grave and newly move." Th e healing methods which t o d a y we are most familiar with in treating neurosis, psychotherapy, etc., m a y in the end be found more applicable to organic disease. The wholeness of medicine became divided when Hippocrates, in the language of legend, turned his back on the temple and strode out into the world. Healing was given up b y the physicians and became the property of priests and others, some honest, some quacks and mountebanks. H a h n e m a n n pioneered the effort to restore healing to the light of conscious culture. This effort entails a step forward for the physician, beyond mere observer consciousness and to a responsible, participating consciousness. Of this step there is a great fear, which expresses itself in m a n y features of our modern life. I t must be faced and indeed the emphasis in homceopathy on the symptoms compels one to face it. The symptoms a patient unfolds are in reference to a particular physician at a particular moment. His attitudes and unconscious tendencies will polarize the s y m p t o m complex in its manifestation as markedly as will the dreams of a patient under psychoanalytic treatment be determined by the particular analyst. The study of disease has been the main preoccupation of medicine since Hippocrates, and in the course of this the social patterns of disease have changed, probably more through social and economic changes t h a n through medicine itself. I t is now time to turn attention to the healing processes, and this will require a transformation of the physician. In the meantime one has to regret that the Health Service is an obstacle to such progress, and it will be in spite of rather t h a n because of it that the constructive tasks can be achieved. However, the highest tasks call forth or demand the greatest obstacles, and we can therefore even be grateful for them.
Some personal reflections following the Manchester Symposium of 17 June 1978 This conference, the second one-day symposium to be held in Manchester, was attended b y 90 delegates, of whom 25 were medical students, a number were from allied professions and therapies, and the majority were medical practitioners either interested in or already practising homceopathic medicine.
228
T~E
BRITISH
ttOM(EOPATHIC
JOUI~AL
We were able to use again the facilities of the University Medical School, whose excellent lecture theatre, electronic aids and refreshment bar all conspired to coordinate the work of speakers and delegates. Lunch was provided in the University refectory, and the catering was subsidized b y Messrs. A. Nelson and Co. and the I{omceopathic Trust. I t was encouraging to be able to offer approval of the symposium under section 63 for the benefit of general practitioners. The varied interests and working commitments of the audience were reflected in the great variety and scope of papers presented b y the speakers, which in themselves indicate the problems of medical practice in the present day, and the challenge facing homceopathy in this scientific era. The introduction of homceop a t h y to those new to the subject allowed for reassessment of basic principles, in the light of current thinking and discovery. I n this modern scientific age the ancient mystique of healing does not have its previous value or purpose. The greater need is for real communication based on a sensitive feeling awareness in a relationship, brought into consciousness by the use of simple language, in terms common to patient and doctor. The role of the doctor in this relationship is two-fold: firstly, use of his holistic awareness of his patient's condition, coordinated with his analytical knowledge of the dis-ease process, and secondly, information from the repertory of remedies and their effects in potency. From these two sources of information, the patient and the repertory, the basic law of similia similibus curentor can be fulfilled. Reassessment of the principles of homceopathic practice allowed for a critical examination of the fundamentals of case-taking and prescribing, which were discussed by the speakers. The language used in homceopathy does not in m a n y cases correspond with modern scientific terminology, nor with idiomatic expressive speech. Both of these need to be introduced if we are to communicate adequately with our colleagues and our patients. Holistic approach in psychology uses the terminology of the three-part man, the m a n of ideas, feelings and a physical body. This classification of function could replace the language of mentals, generals and particulars, words which are used with an emotive bias. Use of idiom and expressive tone of voice allow of immediate understanding between patient and practitioner, and create a positive relationship within which change can more readily take place. During the symposium, the source of repertorized data was examined and questioned for validity. Much of the data comes not from provings in healthy individuals, but from observation of symptomatology in disease and of the effect of a remedy in an established disease process. Some information comes from toxicology, and some from personal experiments b y homceopathic colleagues in the past. Little of our repertorized information consists of scientifically acceptable documented provings on the lines used b y allopathic colleagues in testing a new product. To be able to survive the close survey of the scientific world, more accurate and up-to-date information is vital. Provings are now being carried out in the Manchester area, and a further series of studies of this kind is planned in the future. Work is also being done in Glasgow, and the early results of this were presented b y Dr. R. Gibson. The work of two doctors in the field of rheumatology is being compared, using a double blind system, and an independent method of both objective and subjective assessment of various criteria. The results can be tabulated in a numerical form and present a clear indication of the efficiency of the treatment methods used. This can also be compared with
SOME
PF, R S O N A L
229
REFLECTIONS
the effects of allopathic treatment, and with the natural untreated history of the disease. Critical examination of the principles of homceopathy leads to an interest in the more philosophical questions of causation of disease. We accept, in the light of modern physics, t h a t the material body is a manifestation of energy. I t is therefore in interfunction with the energies involved in thought processes and feeling awareness. The body is a point of manifestation, in the serial time process, of energies which in the numinal world of Plato are interpenetrating eidetie forms in an infinite field. I n alchemical terminology, health is coordination of the four humours of earth, air, fire and water. Disease processes can be identified with a disturbance of one of the four humours in the individual, or in Platonic terms as separation of the individual, through his identification with the phenomenal world, from his original wholeness. The conceptual essence of H a h n e m a n n is a vibratory form of energy, not a static idea, and an approximation to it is found in the potentized remedy. I n disease we have forgotten our original wholeness. The potentized remedy creates a relation with the vibratory energies of the individual, in which the memory of the original wholeness is represented. Assimilation of the m e m o r y of wholeness is the way to health, in creating an expectancy within the being, through which change can take place. These changes m a y be in the field of thought, feeling, or embodiment of function, as manifest in the symptoms or signs of the disease. Such subtle changes in vibrational energies are, so far, mostly beyond the scope of scientific instruments. We are left with the acceptance t h a t homceop a t h y does work, but with the ongoing problem of presenting the proof of its method to a scientific mind. Perhaps this request for proof of the obvious is the most serious disease prevalent in mankind today. Coordination of the interfunctions of thought, feeling and will to act within an individual is the only living proof of the efficiency of the homceopathic remedy, and can only be valued b y personal experience. The problems which present themselves to the homceopathic practitioner are in no way different from those which present in any general practitioner's surgery, hospital department, or family home. The difference is found in the approach to the problem and in the t r e a t m e n t offered. Homceopathy has an undoubted if unproven value in a wide variety of diseases. As a medical discipline it can be very rewarding, challenging and time-consuming. Results at times can be mysteriously impressive, and equally frustrating. I t can also be seen to have its limitations, particularly when a rapid change is sought in a disease process which is creating a marked physical disturbance. I t is a subject which has a definite place in the contemporary medical field, and further work towards its establishment is as important t o d a y as it was in the time of Hahnemann. Dr. L. G. C. Martin took the chair for the day. I n a brief business meeting, he, as retiring President of the Faculty of Homceopathy, handed over the badge of Office to the new President, Dr. I4. Boyd. Time for questions and discussion was limited b y the clock. Perhal~s the unanswered questions and the thoughts which develop from them, will ensure t h a t Dr. Anne Clover and Dr. Burns organize another Manchester symposium next year. JOAN
FORD
227
whole-making activity, is akin to the nature processes. H a h n e m a n n found a w a y to identify the disease process, as expressed in the symptoms, with a healing remedy from the kingdoms of nature. With the remedy he sought to awaken the sensory function of the organism to t h a t which was escaping as disease. Here one can begin to see how a step has been taken towards redemption of the healing methods which in the course of history became left behind. One can perhaps also see how the way is pointed to the use of psychotherapy and high potencies in m a n y organic diseases, and of physical treatments and material doses in m a n y mental diseases. Whilst avoiding any schematic buttoning-up of the problem, we can recall Shakespeare's "And when the mind is quickened out of doubt The organs, though defunct and dead before, Break up their drowsy grave and newly move." Th e healing methods which t o d a y we are most familiar with in treating neurosis, psychotherapy, etc., m a y in the end be found more applicable to organic disease. The wholeness of medicine became divided when Hippocrates, in the language of legend, turned his back on the temple and strode out into the world. Healing was given up b y the physicians and became the property of priests and others, some honest, some quacks and mountebanks. H a h n e m a n n pioneered the effort to restore healing to the light of conscious culture. This effort entails a step forward for the physician, beyond mere observer consciousness and to a responsible, participating consciousness. Of this step there is a great fear, which expresses itself in m a n y features of our modern life. I t must be faced and indeed the emphasis in homceopathy on the symptoms compels one to face it. The symptoms a patient unfolds are in reference to a particular physician at a particular moment. His attitudes and unconscious tendencies will polarize the s y m p t o m complex in its manifestation as markedly as will the dreams of a patient under psychoanalytic treatment be determined by the particular analyst. The study of disease has been the main preoccupation of medicine since Hippocrates, and in the course of this the social patterns of disease have changed, probably more through social and economic changes t h a n through medicine itself. I t is now time to turn attention to the healing processes, and this will require a transformation of the physician. In the meantime one has to regret that the Health Service is an obstacle to such progress, and it will be in spite of rather t h a n because of it that the constructive tasks can be achieved. However, the highest tasks call forth or demand the greatest obstacles, and we can therefore even be grateful for them.
Some personal reflections following the Manchester Symposium of 17 June 1978 This conference, the second one-day symposium to be held in Manchester, was attended b y 90 delegates, of whom 25 were medical students, a number were from allied professions and therapies, and the majority were medical practitioners either interested in or already practising homceopathic medicine.
228
T~E
BRITISH
ttOM(EOPATHIC
JOUI~AL
We were able to use again the facilities of the University Medical School, whose excellent lecture theatre, electronic aids and refreshment bar all conspired to coordinate the work of speakers and delegates. Lunch was provided in the University refectory, and the catering was subsidized b y Messrs. A. Nelson and Co. and the I{omceopathic Trust. I t was encouraging to be able to offer approval of the symposium under section 63 for the benefit of general practitioners. The varied interests and working commitments of the audience were reflected in the great variety and scope of papers presented b y the speakers, which in themselves indicate the problems of medical practice in the present day, and the challenge facing homceopathy in this scientific era. The introduction of homceop a t h y to those new to the subject allowed for reassessment of basic principles, in the light of current thinking and discovery. I n this modern scientific age the ancient mystique of healing does not have its previous value or purpose. The greater need is for real communication based on a sensitive feeling awareness in a relationship, brought into consciousness by the use of simple language, in terms common to patient and doctor. The role of the doctor in this relationship is two-fold: firstly, use of his holistic awareness of his patient's condition, coordinated with his analytical knowledge of the dis-ease process, and secondly, information from the repertory of remedies and their effects in potency. From these two sources of information, the patient and the repertory, the basic law of similia similibus curentor can be fulfilled. Reassessment of the principles of homceopathic practice allowed for a critical examination of the fundamentals of case-taking and prescribing, which were discussed by the speakers. The language used in homceopathy does not in m a n y cases correspond with modern scientific terminology, nor with idiomatic expressive speech. Both of these need to be introduced if we are to communicate adequately with our colleagues and our patients. Holistic approach in psychology uses the terminology of the three-part man, the m a n of ideas, feelings and a physical body. This classification of function could replace the language of mentals, generals and particulars, words which are used with an emotive bias. Use of idiom and expressive tone of voice allow of immediate understanding between patient and practitioner, and create a positive relationship within which change can more readily take place. During the symposium, the source of repertorized data was examined and questioned for validity. Much of the data comes not from provings in healthy individuals, but from observation of symptomatology in disease and of the effect of a remedy in an established disease process. Some information comes from toxicology, and some from personal experiments b y homceopathic colleagues in the past. Little of our repertorized information consists of scientifically acceptable documented provings on the lines used b y allopathic colleagues in testing a new product. To be able to survive the close survey of the scientific world, more accurate and up-to-date information is vital. Provings are now being carried out in the Manchester area, and a further series of studies of this kind is planned in the future. Work is also being done in Glasgow, and the early results of this were presented b y Dr. R. Gibson. The work of two doctors in the field of rheumatology is being compared, using a double blind system, and an independent method of both objective and subjective assessment of various criteria. The results can be tabulated in a numerical form and present a clear indication of the efficiency of the treatment methods used. This can also be compared with
SOME
PF, R S O N A L
229
REFLECTIONS
the effects of allopathic treatment, and with the natural untreated history of the disease. Critical examination of the principles of homceopathy leads to an interest in the more philosophical questions of causation of disease. We accept, in the light of modern physics, t h a t the material body is a manifestation of energy. I t is therefore in interfunction with the energies involved in thought processes and feeling awareness. The body is a point of manifestation, in the serial time process, of energies which in the numinal world of Plato are interpenetrating eidetie forms in an infinite field. I n alchemical terminology, health is coordination of the four humours of earth, air, fire and water. Disease processes can be identified with a disturbance of one of the four humours in the individual, or in Platonic terms as separation of the individual, through his identification with the phenomenal world, from his original wholeness. The conceptual essence of H a h n e m a n n is a vibratory form of energy, not a static idea, and an approximation to it is found in the potentized remedy. I n disease we have forgotten our original wholeness. The potentized remedy creates a relation with the vibratory energies of the individual, in which the memory of the original wholeness is represented. Assimilation of the m e m o r y of wholeness is the way to health, in creating an expectancy within the being, through which change can take place. These changes m a y be in the field of thought, feeling, or embodiment of function, as manifest in the symptoms or signs of the disease. Such subtle changes in vibrational energies are, so far, mostly beyond the scope of scientific instruments. We are left with the acceptance t h a t homceop a t h y does work, but with the ongoing problem of presenting the proof of its method to a scientific mind. Perhaps this request for proof of the obvious is the most serious disease prevalent in mankind today. Coordination of the interfunctions of thought, feeling and will to act within an individual is the only living proof of the efficiency of the homceopathic remedy, and can only be valued b y personal experience. The problems which present themselves to the homceopathic practitioner are in no way different from those which present in any general practitioner's surgery, hospital department, or family home. The difference is found in the approach to the problem and in the t r e a t m e n t offered. Homceopathy has an undoubted if unproven value in a wide variety of diseases. As a medical discipline it can be very rewarding, challenging and time-consuming. Results at times can be mysteriously impressive, and equally frustrating. I t can also be seen to have its limitations, particularly when a rapid change is sought in a disease process which is creating a marked physical disturbance. I t is a subject which has a definite place in the contemporary medical field, and further work towards its establishment is as important t o d a y as it was in the time of Hahnemann. Dr. L. G. C. Martin took the chair for the day. I n a brief business meeting, he, as retiring President of the Faculty of Homceopathy, handed over the badge of Office to the new President, Dr. I4. Boyd. Time for questions and discussion was limited b y the clock. Perhal~s the unanswered questions and the thoughts which develop from them, will ensure t h a t Dr. Anne Clover and Dr. Burns organize another Manchester symposium next year. JOAN
FORD